The timing couldn’t have been better. I came home from my last class of the fall semester to find a box full of the first editions of my new textbook, News Writing and Reporting: An Introduction to Skills and Theory, published by Oxford University Press. There’s nothing like the feeling of seeing your book in print for the first time, transformed from countless thoughts and electronic files into something you can hold in your hand.
This is my first textbook and it’s the product of my first sabbatical in 2016-17, although it’s been in the works as an idea for longer than that. The thinking behind the book is a simple one–I wanted an introduction-to-journalism textbook for a first-year college or university class that was focused on fundamental skills that also included some readings by Canadians about key issues in journalism. I also wanted it to be concise–many introductory textbooks cover so much ground that there’s no way you can use the whole book in one semester, which means students are left paying for an expensive textbook of which they only use half and may never use again, which makes them a hard sell.
I’m quite pleased with how the book turned out and am excited to use it next fall in my own first-year course in the Digital Media and Journalism program here at Laurier Brantford. I’d hoped to be the first person to use it, but that honour falls to my friend Chad Skelton, who will be using it this semester at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, BC.
If you’re interested in learning more about the book and its ancillary materials (a series of screencasts and quizzes devoted to grammar and Canadian Press Style) or ordering a review copy, please contact Oxford University Press.